Jesper Borgen was named "Author of the Year" at the Music Publisher Awards earlier this year. Borgen has worked with artists such as Staysman & Lazz, Morgan Sulele, Bendik, Kid Astray and South Korean Girls Generation. We spoke to him – and some of the people he works with the most.
/ 24/11/2015 / codexText: Kai Lofthus, photo and video: Willy Martinsen/TONO
He was born into a musical family in Groruddalen, Oslo, in 1988, the same year that Casey Kasem ended his first era as host of American Top 40 since 1970. The broadcasts, which for many years were broadcast to Oslo and the surrounding area by NATO radio from Kolsås in Bærum, always ended with Kasem saying: “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars”. A motto that Jesper seems to have always lived by without having heard the broadcasts. He could easily have been among Kasem’s core listeners, given his taste for pop melodies and songwriting environments like Nashville.
– It's a bit sad that the market seems to have a throwaway attitude towards music, says Jesper. – Maybe it's because of the easy access to music. There has been a shortage of hits á la Torn (by the American band Ednaswap, later interpreted by Trine Rein, Natalie Imbruglia and Lis Sørensen) lately. The quality of today's music is not lower, but people don't get the deeper love for music when it's so easy to access everything.
Here you can see Magnus Bertelsen and Jesper Borgen explain how they define a hit:
When he was seven years old he got his first keyboard, and when he was ten he started playing on a broken guitar he found in a container. At 13 he got Hjerterknekt's Vidar Løvstad as a mentor and eventually started writing songs. He also had time for some school (his parents were keen that he should study), but was more interested in music.
It quickly paid off. In 2007, at the age of 19, he made his professional debut as a songwriter. Together with mentors Birgitte Moe (Infinity) and Rune Minde, he co-wrote Summer High, recorded by Jonas “Jonah” Hedqvist and reaching the top 5 on the Swedish singles chart. As part of his work now, he enjoys studying “… everything Max Martin has done in the last seven years.”
– Sweden has started to impress me again lately. Fan va bra by Jakob Karlberg is back to Sommartider a bit! The Norwegian industry has also become fascinating, with party pop and dance as a form of modern dance band songs. I have a very weak spot for that genre, as I believe music should entertain you as much as it should move you, he says.
Here you can see a clip where Bertelsen and Borgen explain how they work on songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRLNO-Epsuc
Intense work sessions and rewarding collaboration
The love of music is something he is willing to sacrifice a lot for.
– I would never suggest that anyone work as hard as I do, but I love the kick I get from putting all my energy into a song. The last song I made with Katastrofe, we had a final rush of 27 hours straight before we went to bed. There is so much love in my job that I can get raccoon eyes, but it is a lifestyle and I only have myself to support. Now is the time I have to cultivate my passion, he says.
Many people want to write as much as possible themselves, but for Jesper, his collaboration with production colleagues such as Magnus "Morgan Sulele" Clausen, Magnus Bertelsen and Erik Fjeld is absolutely central.
– There are several of us here who throw the ball, and use each other at what each of us is an expert in. We would rather have fewer percentages of something big than a higher percentage of something else. It may sound cheesy to say it, but our main goal is to write a hit single, and not skimp on anything. Then we throw all the best we have into each song. We also try to build a picture of how the industry works by listening to songs in other markets, and studying everything the big guys in the world do, such as Max Martin and everything he has done in the last seven years.
Also on the team is Warner/Chappell Music Norway's creative director and A&R manager Stine Osmo Lieng. She has a lot of good things to say about Jesper:
– He is a fantastic person, and without a doubt one of the best songwriters we have in this country. He is open to everything and everyone, and is not pretentious. This reflects him as a songwriter and makes him dare to go where others do not, with great success. He has a unique ability to make others better, and is absolutely awesome at co-writing with artists. Jesper is a star!
Critics have no influence on the work he and his colleagues do for, for example, Staysman & Lazz (Jesper and Magnus Clausen co-wrote the MGP song En godt stekt pizza):
– We do a lot of different things and are proud of everything we do. At the same time, it is often not fully realized that we also work a lot with things that are not so obvious in the media spotlight, like Kid Astray and Bendik. Some people may have a hard time accepting us and feel we are stealing space in the industry. That is definitely not what we want. We make what we think is fun and don't bother putting ourselves in any box, he says.
Tommy La Verdi often works as a "topliner" with Jesper Borgen and the others in the studio complex at Jar in Bærum. Here he explains what that is.
"Inventor of the Year"
That breadth was highly recognized by the Music Publishers earlier this year, when he was named the author of the year (2014). The jury wrote: “(We) have emphasized the breadth and great versatility of Jesper Borgen’s large production in 2014, from Bendik via Sval to Katastrofe. He has also written for major bands internationally, such as Girls’ Generation from South Korea. Borgen represents a young modern songwriting tradition where collaboration between artist and songwriter is in focus. This songwriting process is particularly popular at the moment, and Borgen represents it in an excellent way. The result is good songs that work very well live and that have become big audience favorites. In total, the songs have been streamed over 40 million times and two of the songs appeared on the VG-lista in 2014.
Since then, the number of streams has most likely increased significantly, but he has a sober relationship with such services even though they mean a lot to commercial progress.
– I don't necessarily want to take a position now on whether it's fair compensation or not. It's better to work with the market and find solutions along the way. Spotify is important for reaching people. When a song becomes a hit on Spotify, it's like the flu; everyone in the class gets it. Digster etc. are incredibly important to us, just like having a foot in several camps: something in Asia, something in Europe, something in Norway and the rest of the Nordics. I'm very much in my own cave, focusing on making music and, like most people in this industry, hoping that one day it will be even better.
